Shen of the Sea: A Book for Children

A Newbery Medal winner from 1925, Shen of the Sea collects Chinese folk tales with a wit and wonder that feel as fresh as yesterday. These are not the stern moral fables one might expect from a century-old children’s collection. Instead, Chrisman offers dragon riddles, emperor’s daughters, and clever servants who outsmart everyone in sight, stories that shimmer with magic yet speak plainly to a child’s sense of justice and joy. The writing has an oral quality, as if these tales were always meant to be read aloud by firelight or in a quiet corner at bedtime. What elevates this volume beyond quaint antiquity is its refusal to condescend. Chrisman trusts his young readers with irony, with wordplay, with the quiet satisfaction of a puzzle solved or a trickster triumphant. Nearly a century later, these stories remain a portal: into another culture, yes, but also into a older, gentler way of telling tales.